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Behind the Scenes With the Sound Editor for ‘Star Wars’

How Matthew Wood, a sound editor for Hollywood blockbusters, turned his childhood passion into a cinematic career

By

Darryn King

Dec. 5, 2017 2:13 p.m. ET

AS A BOY growing up in Walnut Creek, California, throughout the late ’70s and ’80s, Matthew Wood was intrigued by his voice-actor grandfather’s reel-to-reel recording equipment, as well as the miniature tape recorders his father, who traveled frequently for work, brought home from Japan. “I would run around the house playing with them, recording things and making audio plays,” says Wood. “Sometimes I’d use Star Wars as the source: ‘I’m interviewing Darth Vader today.’ ”